


A Wolf in Bespoke

by esmerod



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Flirting, Harry Hart Lives, M/M, New Year's Eve, Party Games, Touching, stupid games, the knights are childish idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-10 18:15:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5595970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esmerod/pseuds/esmerod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s New Year’s Eve and the Kingsman knights are playing a silly murder mystery game. Well, Eggsy and Harry are really more focused on flirting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Wolf in Bespoke

**Author's Note:**

> "The wolves are coming" is a murder mystery game that is played in many different places, under many different names. I used the version I'm most familiar with, which would be the Swiss "Werwölflä". For those not familiar with it, I included a list of the different roles and what exactly their purpose is at the bottom.
> 
> Not beta-read.
> 
> Update Feb16: Happy (belated) lunar New Year;3 It's a good occassion to add my little table, which explains excatly who had which role. You can find it at the bottom too.

It was New Year’s Eve and they were playing _The Wolfs Are Coming_. Eggsy wasn’t familiar with the game, because so far most of his new year’s celebrations had either consisted of getting completely sloshed or watching telly with his mum, or both. But he liked games, so why not…

The older knights seemed vaguely amused when Roxy suggested it and Merlin raised a questioning eyebrow. But she only threw him a wink and then looked at Eggsy expectantly as if was supposed to know what that meant. He shrugged and admitted that he had no freaking clue, _you snobs_. Which resulted in an outraged and exaggerated explanation by Bors about the long Kingsman tradition of what was ultimately a children’s game.

“It’s really simple. We’re all villagers and there are werewolves amongst us. Every night they go around and kill one of us. So it’s our task to find out who they are and burn them alive.” Bors smiled a very toothy smile and Eggsy decided that this wasn’t the kind game he would ever play with Daisy.

“You’re not explaining it right,” Gareth barged in and also handed them each a glass of white wine, “we have to draw lots, which determine our roles. There are wolves, a witch, a huntsman, a cupid and normal villagers.” Eggsy nodded and took a by far too big gulp of his wine.

Harry clapped his back, obviously picking up on Eggsy’s confusion. “Don’t worry, my boy, it’s really pretty self-explanatory. There’s also a game master, who tells you what you have to do and when.”  
He threw a look in Merlin’s direction, who immediately started shaking his head. “Oh no, Harry. I won’t play your story teller. Every year you make me the game master and every year those berks who call themselves knights ruin everything.”

“Nonsense, my friend. They merely embellish the story a bit and your Scottish grouchiness is what makes the whole thing appealing.” He shot Merlin a disarming smile, who narrowed his eyes in return. It was probably Roxy’s subtle touch to his hand and her wordless gaze that made Merlin sigh resignedly. “Alright, alright. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. Sit down, you useless peasants!”  
Some of the knights cheered openly and Eggsy saw how Roxy and Harry exchanged a victorious look with each other.

So they all sat down around the not-so-round table, people putting their wine glasses in front of them. Merlin went around and let them all draw little slips of paper. Eggsy examined his own. It had _villager_ written own it. That was pretty straight-forward and he took another sip of his wine.

“Alright now, everyone, close your eyes and don’t peek.”

Eggsy observed with quite an interest how the knights complied immediately and a moment later he was already staring at a series of faces that alternated between relaxed, excited and amused.  
“You too, Eggsy,” Merlin chided mildly. Eggsy snorted but did as he was told.

“No cheating or Merlin will send you on surveillance duty for the next month,” Bors threw in and the knights chuckled.  
“No cheating or Merlin will send you on surveillance duty together with Bors,” Merlin deadpanned and got some real laughter in return.

“Alright let’s start now,” Merlin took a deep breath.

“The village is calm on this cold winter evening but the fires are burning in the windows.” Eggsy felt a little smile spreading over his face. Merlin’s Scottish brogue really made for a good atmosphere. He could almost see it in front of his inner eye.

“Before the night falls though, the cupid comes out. His sole purpose is to make two people fall in love.” Eggsy couldn’t hear anything specific, but he realised that someone must have opened their eyes.

In something that now clearly resembled more his handler tone Merlin explained: “The lovers are roles you can be assigned independent of what was written on you slip of paper. So you can be a wolf and a lover, or a villager and a lover. The only thing that’s special about them is that if your partner dies, you die too.”

“Very Shakespearean,” someone grumbled, which caused some more chuckling.

Merlin ignored it and instead said, “The cupid, now done with his duties, closes his eyes again. I will touch the two people that have been chosen as lovers, so that they may gaze upon each other.” It was obvious that the last part of the sentence must have made their quartermaster grimace.

Eggsy heard his light footsteps, then a pause, and then some more footsteps until he suddenly felt a warm hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Harry looking back at him with a pleased smile.  
“As the lovers’ lives are connected, it’s very much in your interest to protect your partner,” Merlin explained and Eggsy nodded silently. But not before he had shot Harry a cheeky wink, who seemed to have some trouble not to laugh out loud. Merlin continued his pacing and Eggsy felt a bit hot on the inside while he stared at Harry.

Behind Arthur’s chair Merlin finally stopped. Back in his very distinct fairy tale mode he continued speaking: “The lovers, now aware of their undying love for each other,” someone snorted – probably Gareth, “feel the pull of the night, like the rest of the village does.” Eggsy interpreted that as the order to close his eyes again, which obviously must have been right because he didn’t get scolded again.

“The moon rises and the cold winter wind makes the firs rustle. There is the howl of a wolf in the distance and within the village the werewolves awaken. They open their eyes…” Eggsy could hear some movement, but it was hard to place within a room of nine people.  
  
“Their instincts make them recognize each other and they start roaming the sleeping village together. They go from house to house, sniffing and scratching, until they finally decide who their victim is going to be.” Eggsy heard some breathing but still couldn’t really place it.

“The night, however, is far from over. After the werewolves retreat and close their eyes again, the witch awakens…”

“Uhhh, the witch!” Laughter.  
  
“Shut up, Gawain!” Merlin threw back in a stern manner, before he continued, “The witch, shocked by the night’s events, goes to the victim’s house. She has this one potion she once got from a mysterious traveller…”, “named Merlin,” Gareth interrupted. Merlin pointedly ignored it.

“…from a mysterious traveller, that has the power to bring back the dead. But it is a one-time only occasion, so she has to think carefully if she wants to use it or save it for later.” Eggsy heard Merlin’s steps again, probably indicating the werewolves’ victim to their knightly witch.

“Does the witch want to use her healing potion?” Silence. There must have been some kind of answer because Merlin started moving again.

“The mysterious traveller also left the witch with a second very potent potion. This one, however, was poisonous. Aware of the werewolf threat - or just filled with the desire for petty vengeance – the witch now has the chance to kill someone herself. Does she want to make use of this opportunity?”

Again there was silence, then the shuffling of Merlin’s feet sounded. “Alright. The first night finally comes to an end and the sun rises. With it the villagers awake.” That was obviously their cue to open their eyes again.

“However, there is chaos in front of Gawain’s house.”

“Oh, that was so obvious, you knob heads always kill me off first,” Gawain groused and crossed his arms over his broad chest, sulking.  
“Maybe you shouldn’t always provoke Merlin,” Percival reprimanded.  
“Merlin isn’t even part of the game,” Gawain retorted.

Merlin threw them both a reproachful _I’m not amused_ look that made them fall silent again.

“A body is found, torn to pieces, as if wild animals attacked it. The villagers immediately realise that there must be werewolves around,” he finally finished.

“Soooo, the witch didn’t save me. Thanks a lot, by the way.”  
“But she didn’t poison anybody. So she still has both potions.”  
“Why are we discussing the witch? Aren’t we supposed to find out who the werewolves are?” Eggsy asked, and immediately all heads turned towards him. He was almost surprised they weren’t pointing at him, because then it started for real: “Who makes the first accusation is always a werewolf!”

“What? But I didn’t accuse anybody. I just pointed out that…”

“That’s not how this works, Eggsy. You are a wolf!”

“No, I’m not!” Eggsy seriously felt a bit cornered by the sudden attack.

Opposite of him Roxy seemed horribly amused. “Just go with it and accuse someone in return,” she mouthed. “It’s not supposed to make sense. The game is all about randomly accusing people.”  
Eggsy shook his head at her while at the other end of the table Gareth and Gawain were fighting over whether or not Gawain had the right to accuse someone too, after all he was already dead.

“One would expect more from a room full of spies,” Harry whispered next to him and lightly squeezed his thigh. Eggsy felt his cheeks heat up but he nodded wordlessly.

“So, who’s in favour of the village burning Eggsy because he’s a werewolf? Raise your hands.”  
“Waaaiit,” now that really got Eggsy’s attention. “I’m not a freaking werewolf. And anyway, if we go by first, then it’s Bors, because he accused me.” There was some nodding.

“Alright then,” Percival said, “who thinks we should burn Eggsy?” Bors, Gareth and Gawain raised their hands.

“Gawain, you can’t vote, you’re dead.” The man snorted but lowered his hand.

“Ok, and who thinks Bors is a werewolf?” Eggsy, Roxy, Harry and Percival raised their hands.

“That’s the majority. Sorry Bors, you die,” Merlin said very matter-of-factly.

“Oh, fuck you, you bloody tossers! I’m a villager.” He threw his lot at them in a very dramatic fashion before crossed his arms too and leant back in his chair.

While the others examined the little slip of paper, Eggsy turned to Harry. “Is it always like this?”  
“Yes. So far it’s actually been rather tame because people aren’t as inebriated as other years.”  
Eggsy snorted.

“Don’t worry, my boy. You’re doing fine.” Harry leant in closer and added in a conspiratorial fashion, “I really wouldn’t want anything to happen to you, my love.” Eggsy felt a shiver run down his spine. He knew this was only a game, but he really liked how it felt to hear those words from Harry. So he batted his eyelashes, all dramatic bravado, and answered, “Nor I to you, my dear.”

“Oh, get these two away from each other, otherwise I really need to schedule an appointment with my dentist,” Gareth teased and clapped a still slightly sulky Bors on the shoulder as if he had just made the joke of the century. It garnered him some amused snickering, but mostly people seemed ready to proceed to round two.

Merlin cleared his throat and they obediently closed their eyes again. “After the ashes of Bors’ pyre have settled,” a displeased grunt could be heard, “the night’s approaching quickly. The village, still mourning the loss of two of its faithful dwellers, is restless, yet with the dark of night the wolves can’t be stopped. They open their eyes and roam the village, prowling for a new victim. Who’s it going to be this time?”

After a moment of silence he continued, “a wretch has been chosen. But there is still the enigmatic village witch, with the power to bring life and death. Does she want to safe the werewolves’ victim?”  
The rustling of clothes could be heard, then again silence. “Good. And does she want to use her second potion to poison somebody?”

Eggsy regretted a bit to have drawn the boring _villager_ card. It really would have been so much more fun to be a witch or a wolf. But at least he was starting to get the hang of the game.

“Morning comes and once again the village has been ransacked. Especially in front of Gareth’s house there are traces of paws and claw marks at the door. But the inhabitant himself is, as if through a miracle, unharmed.” Gareth inclined his head into their round, “thank you, dear witch.”

“That is, however, not the only thing that has happened during the night,” Merlin continued. There was some exaggerated gasping. “The body of Roxy is found, still whole but with a greenish pallor clinging to her skin. She has obviously been poisoned.”

Roxy threw her hands in the air. “Not cool, gentlemen, not cool. Poisoning a girl that was only trying to make people happy.” With that she revealed her slip of paper that read _cupid_. Eggsy couldn’t exactly say that he was surprised. The choice of him and Harry as the lovers already pointed very much in her direction, after all she had been pushing Eggsy to make a move on Harry for months. He sent her a sympathetic smile.

After that the room was filled with a weird tension. There was no shouting, no ill-founded accusations. Obviously the remaining players had remembered that they were all highly-trained professionals and quite capable of reading cues. The only problem was that all of them shared pretty much the same skill set, so they were eyeing each other warily, nobody daring to make the first move.

Eggsy let his gaze wander and counted. With Gawain, Bors and Roxy out that meant that all the more or less harmless roles were gone. He was the last remaining villager, if they still had two werewolves, a witch and a hunter to go. It made him grab for his wine glass. Next to him Harry smiled a slightly dangerous smile.

“Tristan, you haven’t said a lot tonight.” All the heads turned into the addressed knight’s direction, who looked slightly pained. It was quite true, Tristan had indeed barely said anything so far. But that wasn’t much of surprise because Tristan was in many aspects the perfect spy. He was inconspicuous in appearance, didn’t show off and didn’t talk much. Gawain tended to call him boring, but Eggsy found the man intriguing.

“That’s true,” Gareth chimed in. “All this cryptic silence can’t hide the fact that you’re suspicious.”  
“Seriously? You’re accusing me because I didn’t say anything?” Tristan wore a pretty convincing _you must be kidding me_ expression, but that didn’t mean a lot with a bunch of spies.

“I’m not a wolf, I assure you,” he said.  
“I assure you,” Gareth parroted. “Let’s find out and burn him!”

Shouts of approval erupted in the room and Eggsy felt like taking another big gulp of wine. This was all a bit overly dramatic.

“Alright then, do all the remaining villagers agree that Tristan should be burned at the stake?” Merlin asked. There was nodding while Eggsy still nursed his glass and kind of avoided passing judgement. It didn’t seem to matter though because Tristan sighed deeply and revealed his lot anyway. “I’m the huntsman, you fools. Which means I get to take one of you with me.”

Eggsy looked up, slightly confused, and Merlin explained: “If the huntsman gets falsely accused, he can, as a last act so to speak, shoot one of the people he thinks is a wolf.” Eggsy nodded in understanding while Tristan’s gaze was assessing the remaining players. There was something calculating yet amused in it, and it became clear to Eggsy that the man was actually enjoying himself. _All weirdos._

“I would very much like to kill Gareth, but it’s unfortunately established that he can’t be a werewolf,” Gareth gave a smug grin while Tristan’s gaze finally settled on somebody.

“So in my duty as the huntsman, I decide to kill Percival.”

Now Eggsy was surprised. Percival wasn’t exactly someone he had pegged as a wolf, but then there weren’t a lot of people left and he had been pretty reserved. When he thought about it… yeah, Percival was probably a werewolf.

The man also had a pretty satisfied grin on his face when he threw his slip on the table.  
“Wolf and proud!” he exclaimed, which got him a few boos but that didn’t seem to faze him at all, quite on the contrary actually. Eggsy felt weirdly amused by the whole display.

“Well, that leaves Gareth, Harry and Eggsy for round three,” Merlin summarised and Gareth immediately groaned.

“That’s not fair. No matter which one of them is the remaining wolf,” he gestured towards Eggsy and Harry, “they won’t kill each other. I’m so dead.”

“You don’t know if we’re the lovers,” Eggsy retorted, feeling a vague need to defend Harry – even if it was true.  
“Oh believe me, lad, even if you weren’t the lovers, Harry still wouldn’t kill you.”

Harry squeezed Eggsy’s thigh again, this time far higher up though. It made Eggsy feel a bit dizzy, in a good way.

Gareth groaned some more and buried his face in his hands. “Go on Merlin, put an end to this farce,” he muttered. Merlin snorted but then shook his head and carried on telling the wolf tale for the very last time.

“After the heroic hunter’s death,” there were some cheers for Tristan, who bowed slightly, “which led to the demise of the evil werewolf, Percival,” some more booing but Percival bowed nonetheless, “the village has suffered such severe losses that there are only three people left. So this time, when the night approaches, all of them know that it will be the last night in their home as they know it. The moon comes out behind the clouds and the wolf follows suit.”

Nobody had closed their eyes but it was kind of pointless anyway. Merlin looked at Harry.  
“Who will die in this last night?” Harry, who hadn’t removed his hand from Eggsy’s thigh, smiled his most charming smile. “Well, Gareth of course.”

There was laughter and Gareth groaned. “Fuck you, Hart, fuck you and your boy toy.”

Eggsy gave him the two-fingered salute but turned to Harry. “So, you’re a wolf then. What does that mean for our relationship? Will I have to share you with a pack?”

Around them people started to get up and steal out of the room. Neither Eggsy nor Harry paid them any attention. “As I consider myself quite the lone wolf, I’m not much for a pack. But a mate would be quite welcome.”

“Oh, shut up, you two,” someone mumbled, who hadn’t been able to flee the room fast enough. “Happy New Year, by the way, before you start shagging each other’s brains out!” And with that the door fell shut. Eggsy felt a grin tucking at the corner of his lips but he didn’t turn away from Harry.

“What about Percival?” he breathed but at the same time skidded a bit closer to the other man.  
“A temporary partner in crime. Besides, he’s dead. Really cannot be compared to a mate.”  
“I see,” Eggsy said and grabbed Harry’s lapels. “So you’re free to start this New Year with a new mate?”

“Absolutely. For you always, my boy.” They were so close now, Eggsy could feel Harry’s body heat radiating off of him. He rubbed his cheek against Harry’s and grazed his lips with his own. “Then I very much want to roam the night with you.”

 

The End and Happy New Year!

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope my description made the workings of the game comprehensible. It sounds far more complicated than it is;3  
> Here a collection of the different roles that exist in the game:
> 
> 2 werewolves, they kill villagers  
> 1 witch, has two potions (1x to revive a werewolf victim, 1x poison)  
> 1 cupid, decides on two people to fall in love with each other (only important during the first round)  
> 2 people in love, if one of them should be murdered, the other dies too  
> 1 huntsman, should he be killed, he can shot 1 other person as a last act


End file.
